LOCO LAPTOP

I been fighting this for what seems forever. To the point I was throwing money at it. I was told it was normal and I personally don't believe this much play is normal (I do understand it will not be perfect and will have a little play). The play is going into the gearbox,but not transferring out. which makes me think of a bad gearbox again.

What I have replaced, Ball joints, gearbox (adjusted as well), power steering pump, tie rods, and bushings. I also had an alignment done.



So my question is Is my sloppy steering normal or not?


If that is normal I will sell this truck as I do not feel comfortable driving it.

RLXXI

Hard to say without putting hands on but that knocking sound is a dead give away, could be a combination of steering shaft and gearbox play.

While having a friend rock the wheel as you did in the vid, get under the truck and look at the shaft going into the gear box, the output shaft should match the input.

The rod coming out of the gear box will be bolted to the pitman arm, that in turn will be bolted to the drag link.

Also grab the steering shaft before it enters the gear box and see if the two halves are tight, those u-joints wear out like anything else. Is the shaft that exits the steering column tight? Grasp the shaft where it exits the bottom of the column and see if it moves up and down/side to side, could be a bad column bearing.

broncojunkie

I have new ball joints, drag link, alignment, and the original gearbox in my truck and I don't think the play is quite as bad as yours. I'm pretty sure most of my steering play is from the steering shaft. Have you checked it? It's pretty hard to tell on mine, but yours may be more apparent with that much play.

broncojunkie

http://www.borgeson.com/xcart/catalo...50-p-1462.html

LOCO LAPTOP

There is a little play on the shaft. I just don't think there enough to make that much of a play. Will check on it more when I go to my buddy shop.


whether or not I need this, I will order it anyway.

broncojunkie

I would suggest starting by doing what Rnlcomp says. Have a friend wiggle the wheel while you check the steering linkage. While your friend rocks the steering wheel, grab the steering shaft near the gearbox (like you did in the video). Try to keep it from moving and see if you can see play in the rag joints, or if the upper portion of the shaft moves more than the lower section. Most of the play could be from that shaft. Or, it could be a combination of things. That aftermarket Borgeson shaft, although pricey, uses u-joints in place of the problematic rag joints.

I'm going to replace mine some day, but I have some more pressing issues to spend $300 on. Besides, mine isn't horrible just yet.

LOCO LAPTOP

I have made another video and is currently uploading (should be done in a few) and see what you guys say.


Again thanks for the input and it would be more useful to have a friend here but everyone is sleeping at this time. haha.

broncojunkie

Hard to tell exactly what you got going on there, from the video. On mine, I had the girlfriend at the wheel and I crawled around checking everything. Took me a good 5 minutes of inspecting to narrow my problem down to a few different areas. 50% of the play in my system was fixed by replacing ball joints and drag link. I still have a good bit of play in the shaft and gearbox. A little play here and there can add up to a pretty sloppy steering system.

It does appear from your video that you have some play south of the shaft, though. What I can't see from the video is whether or not the movement is transferring to the pittman arm. If the arm is not moving, then the play is narrowed down to the gearbox.

Is the gearbox under warranty? (You did say it has been replaced, right?) If so, then I would consider returning it. If not, then get a new one...but instead of returning the old one for a core charge, eat the cost. Buy a rebuild kit for it and post a how-to video for the rest of us.

One more thing....if you attempted to adjust play out of the system by tightening the worm gear, then that could cause the gearbox to wear out quickly. Do a search for "worm gear". There is some great info on this forum from some of the guys here that really know these trucks.

LOCO LAPTOP

I don't see any movement transferring to the pittman arm, I'm going to have someone move the wheel tomorrow to be 100% sure.

The box is under warranty but at this point instead of being a cheap ***, I would get a RedHead gearbox and be done with it.

Again thanks for the help.

LOCO LAPTOP

Update on the thread, earlier this week I ordered a new redhead steering gearbox. I got it today and installed it tonight.

Results? My god why didn't I do this sooner?! Fixed my problem, the only thing left is the slight (normal) play.